


A Little Friendly Competition

by tinyexplosives



Series: Swimmingstuck [2]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: F/F, Friendship, Gen, Humanstuck, Pre-Relationship, everyone swims
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-12
Updated: 2014-02-12
Packaged: 2018-01-12 01:27:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,026
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1180269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tinyexplosives/pseuds/tinyexplosives
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Skaia Swim Club sees the arrival of a new member, and Kanaya is intrigued.</p>
<p>Set in the Swimmingstuck universe, before "In Which Karkat Vantas Swims the Fly".</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Little Friendly Competition

**Author's Note:**

> After almost a year I felt the urge to write some more Swimmingstuck, so here we are. I'm thinking of doing a series of short fics about different relationships on the team, romantic and platonic, and decided to start with Rose and Kanaya. This one can be seen as friendship or pre-relationship.
> 
> If you have any questions about the AU/swimming terms I'd be more than happy to answer them! Just ask me here or on my tumblr at tinypyrope.tumblr.com.

You're sitting on the bleachers by the pool before practice, taking sporadic sips of Gatorade from your bottle, when Vriska marches up to you and sprawls haphazardly over the row by your side. 

"Did you seeeeeeee, Maryam? There's a new girl here today," she announces while eyeing your Gatorade none too subtly. "I wonder if she's any good."

"She most likely is, if she was accepted onto Skaia Swimming," you say matter-of-factly. "We are one of the top swim clubs in the country, as you so helpfully like to point out to all of our opponents at meets. I believe it's a given that she's fast."

"Yeah, but is she fast, or fast fast?" Vriska grins at you while waggling her eyebrows. "Maybe she's a butterflyer, like me. It'd be nice to have some real competition, since you left the butterfly lane last year to become an IM'er. Too bad."

"Yes, I suppose," you say absentmindedly. You've already seen the new girl, actually. You saw her in the locker room earlier, meticulously removing her dark purple lipstick before heading out to the pool deck. Now, she stands on the wet tile floor, talking to Coach Jack about the practice schedule. She radiates a cool sort of confidence that makes you feel nervous and excited at the same time.

"What are you so spacey for, Fussyface?" Vriska huffs as she snatches your Gatorade from your hand. 

"I can have some, right?" She asks, the bottle already halfway to her mouth. She takes exactly eight gulps of your drink before slamming it back on the bleachers with a muffled clang.

"Looks like Jack is starting practice. It's probably best that we head over," you sigh, resigning yourself to the fact that you're going to have to get through two hours of an exhausting workout with only half a bottle of Gatorade to drink. You grab Vriska by the wrist before she can lie back down on the bleachers, pulling her somewhat aggressively in the direction of your teammates while she whines about not wanting to swim.

Before you get in the water, Jack introduces the new girl. Her name is Rose Lalonde, her best stroke is freestyle, and she has a brother named Dave who is considering joining the team as well. She started swimming at four years old when her dear mother signed her up for lessons against her will, but has continued due to her love of the sport which immediately blossomed upon beginning competitive swimming- her words, not yours. 

You suspect that she is being sarcastic, but decide not to bring it up.

Your attempts to further get to know Rose are halted when Jack snaps at everyone to get in the water, and she places her water bottle and bag three lanes away from yours. 

You feel pretty good during practice, despite the terrible sets that Jack puts up on the board one after another. With 10 minutes left in practice, you're about to congratulate yourself on a job well done until Jack announces that everyone is going to do a 100 freestyle for time off the blocks.

"You can warm down and leave after that," he says with a nasty grin. "Make sure to get in a lane next to someone who will challenge you."

Grumbling, the team starts to arrange themselves in different lanes for the race. You put yourself in the second group of swimmers, along with Vriska, Terezi, and Aradia. You notice somewhat apprehensively that Rose has placed herself in Lane 3, between you in Lane 2 and Vriska in Lane 4. 

As the first heat finishes their race and Jack begins calling out their times, your group gets ready to dive in. Rose steps up on the starting block next to you, goggles flashing brightly in the light as she turns. To your left, Vriska claps loudly on the blocks eight times as a show of confidence, and you grimace. 

"Wow, calm down," Terezi cackles, rolling her eyes at Vriska through her obnoxiously red prescription goggles. "It's a timed race at the end of practice, not the Olympic trials."

"Yeah you would know all about going to Trials, 'cause you're soooooooo fast, right?" Vriska mocks, despite the fact that she is no closer to going to the Olympics than Terezi is, which you helpfully inform her of.

Vriska is about to snap something back at you, but Jack chooses that moment to shout, "Take your marks!" and whistles loudly to signal the start of the race.

You cut your way through the water with as much accuracy and power as you can muster at the end of a two-hour workout, more focused on getting to the wall than how fast the rest of your heat is going. On the last lap as you become more fatigued and begin taking more breaths, you realize that Rose is only a few feet ahead of you. Willing yourself to sprint the last few yards, you kick into overdrive and churn through the water, propelling yourself forward and slamming your hand into the wall. 

Taking in huge gasps of air, you try and get your heart rate back to normal as Jack announces your times- Rose ends up beating you by a little under half a second, despite your efforts towards the end of the 100.

Rose pulls off her cap and goggles and turns towards you. "I was beginning to think you were going to catch me towards the end."

"Yeah," you manage to wheeze back, still fatigued. Rose doesn't even seem to be out of breath. "Another five yards and I might have done it."

"It was a good race," Rose concedes with a small smile. "Maybe next time."

You smile back, and reach for your Gatorade only to find it completely empty, as it has been for the last hour. Behind Rose, Vriska tries to dunk Terezi underwater while Jack screams at them.

It's not like Vriska needs any more competition anyways. She and Terezi have been rivals for years. Maybe it's you that needs the competition. 

"Next time," you say, and let the challenge hang heavy in the air.


End file.
